SNB’s Gold Hoard Is Boon for Earnings Dented by Dollar Slump

(Bloomberg) — The Swiss National Bank’s gold hoard is driving a significant boost to its earnings, increasing the chance of another payout to the government.

During the third quarter, the central bank probably saw a valuation gain of some 15 billion francs ($19 billion) on its holdings of bullion, in its biggest such gain so far in 2025, according to Karsten Junius, chief economist at Bank J Safra Sarasin in Zurich.

That impact from rising gold prices would almost exactly offset the total loss the central bank reported in the first half of the year, when the dollar’s slump hurt its foreign-exchange portfolio.

“Every gain from the SNB’s stock portfolio would come on top,” Junius said in an interview. “Since US equities showed a good performance, the SNB will very likely be able to turn its loss into a profit at the nine-month mark.”

Junius is confident that the central bank’s full-year performance will be strong enough for it to make a payout to the government and the cantons. That’s a political hot topic as Finance Minister Karin Keller-Sutter has been pushing for cuts to the federal budget. Voters also recently opted to cut property taxes, setting up further shortfalls for public coffers.

The SNB only just resumed payouts after returning to a profit in 2024 — handing over 3 billion francs to the Bern executive and the regions. Prior losses rendered distributions impossible for the two previous years. Junius reckons the bullion effect will continue to buoy earnings.

“The dollar will continue to drop, but SNB losses from this will be offset by a rising gold price,” he said. “A weaker dollar is also supporting US stocks.”

The central bank holds 1,040 tons of gold in its vaults, while more than a third of its 715 billion-franc foreign-currency reserves are in dollars. A quarter of that hoard is in stocks, making the SNB a major tech investor in the US, with large stakes in Nvidia Corp, Microsoft Corp and Apple Inc.

Earnings from the central bank’s operations have no bearing on its monetary policy. It will report its nine-month earnings on Oct. 31.

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